Do Stuff Corporation, a subsidiary of Queens of the Stone Age, is offering the merger of music and technology with QOTSA’s recently-released album “Like Clockwork” being reissued on an 8GB USB flash drive, including extras like hi-res photos and a lyric sheet. Watch this video with Do Stuff Corporation’s Ricky Chism and hear about this unusual offer with a special two-for-one deal at the end (pay shipping and handling on both, get one for free). Quantities are limited, so they’d like you to act now. Please. Or Ricky will awkwardly dance to the music some more, and you don’t want that. Did I mention that the USB stick is a bottle opener, too? Because it is….

(Why, yes, Ricky DOES look a lot like Fred Armisen, come to think of it. The video was directed by Liam Lynch, and you can click here to buy the USB stick. Bulby would like it very much if you do.)

]]>http://nerdist.com/music-tech-queens-of-the-stone-age-on-a-usb-flash-drive/feed/3Shroom Trip Operahttp://nerdist.com/shroom-trip-opera/
Thu, 02 May 2013 16:01:46 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=74069Herewith, comic/performance artist/opera singer Joseph Keckler’s Shroom Trip Opera. The video, directed by Sifl and Olly‘s Liam Lynch, takes Keckler’s musical account of a bad trip, part of his stage performance I Am an Opera, and visualizes it in particularly inventive ways. Plus, you learn the importance of dental hygiene, as opposed to laryngectomy.

You can also see Keckler on Saturday’s edition of The Nerdist on BBC America, 10/9c.

]]>Sifl and Olly Sing “Omega” (UPDATE: And “Oh Yeah,” Too!)http://nerdist.com/sifl-and-olly-sing-omega/
http://nerdist.com/sifl-and-olly-sing-omega/#commentsFri, 19 Apr 2013 20:00:35 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=73037You heard the stirring ballad “Omega” by Sifl and Olly in the “Calls from Gamers” episode of Sifl and Olly Video Game Reviews on the Nerdist Channel, and you wondered, hey, where can I get that song for my very own?

Never say we don’t do anything for you. Here, provided by the most generous Liam Lynch himself, is the full version of “Omega”:

You can download it for posterity by clicking that link in the player. A lot of requests for that came in, so there you go.

Here’s the original episode again, in case you missed it:

UPDATE: BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: The soundtrack to the video game “Oh Yeah” from Episode 2. ALL KINDS OF FUNKY:

Did you watch the MTV Movie Awards Sunday night? Neither did I, but they had a new trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and here it is. President Donald Sutherland and Plutarch Philip Seymour Hoffman agree that Katniss “has to be eliminated,” and on November 22nd, you’ll see how they plan to do that. Or you could read the book. Either one.

]]>http://nerdist.com/she-has-to-be-eliminated-a-trailer-for-the-hunger-games-catching-fire/feed/8Sifl and Olly and MoCaphttp://nerdist.com/sifl-and-olly-and-mocap/
Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:01:00 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=72292In this week’s edition of Sifl and Olly’s Video Game Reviews on the Nerdist Channel, Todd Todds stips by to demonstrate a new face motion capturing system, but things go very, very wrong.

]]>Calling Sifl and Ollyhttp://nerdist.com/calling-sifl-and-olly/
http://nerdist.com/calling-sifl-and-olly/#commentsThu, 04 Apr 2013 16:01:11 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=71794In this week’s edition of Sifl and Olly Video Game Reviews on the Nerdist Channel, they take calls from gamers and tackle a troublesome theme song. You’re on the air!

]]>http://nerdist.com/calling-sifl-and-olly/feed/5“Sifl and Olly” Versus Deceptionhttp://nerdist.com/sifl-and-olly-versus-deception/
http://nerdist.com/sifl-and-olly-versus-deception/#commentsThu, 28 Mar 2013 16:01:51 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=71142Sifl and Olly are back with more video game reviews on the Nerdist Channel. This week, they’re showing you the difference between video game ads and actual gameplay. And other stuff.

]]>http://nerdist.com/sifl-and-olly-versus-deception/feed/1Sifl and Olly Return for a Nerdist Channel Premiere!http://nerdist.com/sifl-and-olly-return-for-a-nerdist-channel-premiere/
http://nerdist.com/sifl-and-olly-return-for-a-nerdist-channel-premiere/#commentsThu, 21 Mar 2013 15:01:21 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=70420(EDITOR’S NOTE: Herewith, the Nerdist Channel presents the return of Sifl and Olly, this week trying to get their YouTube view counts up for their video game reviews by any means possible. They haven’t aged a bit, by the way. And you can find official Sifl and Olly merchandise at Zazzle. Also, follow Liam Lynch at @lynchland and S&O at @realsiflandolly. And now, over to Brian for a chat with Liam himself….)

Back when MTV was more than just reality television, the halcyon days of the 1990s, it programmed some absurd comedies that ended up being too ahead of their time. One of those was the sock puppet variety show for grown-ups known as The Sifl and Olly Show. The show ran for two seasons and was the brainchild of lifelong friends Matt Crocco and Liam Lynch, who filled it with meandering dialogue, weird songs, and bizarre sketches. The show is back, this time on the Nerdist Channel, and we spoke to Liam Lynch about what it’s like to bring these characters back in web form.

Nerdist: What did you learn in your first attempts to adapt Sifl and Olly to the internet?

Liam Lynch: Well, my first attempt was actually back in 2001. We did a whole “season 3” that was made for the internet only, but it never ended up going out. Back then online video was BAD, extremely low-res. We had to make sure none of the scenes had too much detail. We had to make sure any on screen text was large and thick and legible since we were working with so few pixels. This time around, it’s been wonderful. It’s so nice to make them in HD and to do the graphics and stuff myself. Before the internet, there was a certain spirit that was only found on “cable access”… a cheap, home made, unprofessional type of quality. Sifl and Olly were really based on this and came from that notion. The internet is a massive world wide cable access channel now… but the spirit is the same. You can do it yourself. You can be a TV show if you want to. So really, they never needed to adapt to anything to be on the internet.

N: How is this version of Sifl and Olly different from the Machinima review show you did, and how is it different from the original show?

LL: Well, the original show was a half hour and consisted of short vignette segments. Interviews, calls from the public, a word with Chester, songs… this show on Nerdist is like one of those segments in a way. I always wanted to do a video game segment on Sifl and Olly, and we did do a lot of video game based songs and skits. So the theme of the segment is different from the original show, although we are doing “calls from the gamers,” which is exactly the same as “calls from the public”. These new episodes I made for Machinima were such a blast to make. I had more freedom to include some of my other geeky interests. I had more freedom than with Machinima… not because of Machinima, though, they were so supportive and up for anything… it’s the difference in the audience. Machinima’s viewers are so such a horde of hardcore gamers. With more subscribers than anyone, it also highly increases the number of assholes and comment trolls. Machinima is branching out (or trying to) beyond the types of shows that made them popular… which is really gaming reviews and stuff for hardcore gamers. It’s a vast topic, but it’s also cornered by itself.

With the Nerdist audience, I think, though, the subscribers are far less, they are people that appreciate imagination and probably subscribed because they are “fans” of something. All of Nerdist Channel’s shows have a backbone of being a fan of something… or getting inspired by something… so I think these Sifl and Olly episodes will go over much better with the Nerdist viewers than the Machinima subscribers. Many of the Machinima subscribers were too young to remember Sifl and Olly, and their 14 year old egos were challenged by something that looked like it should be for “kids.” It also wasn’t about specific real games that they had, or footage of headshots set to electronica. Ha ha… In these new ones for Nerdist, I was able to have even more fun dragging in things I’m a fan of, like Doctor Who and Star Wars and other fun things. I’m so excited for folks to see these new episodes.

N: How has working in the web video space changed since you started?

LL: Well, I’ve been doing web videos for a long time now. I started my video podcast, Lynchland, back in 2004. It was among the first of the video podcasts on iTunes. (Back then I was always in the top 25 podcasts, because there were only 20. Ha ha.) I have thought of lots of show ideas. I use the web as a creative sandbox. My YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/heyliam, shows some of my weird experiments, skits and music videos. I don’t think web video is really ALL video. It’s why we don’t have antennas on our TVs anymore. It makes me want to endlessly make shows, because anyone can self-publish now. It’s a huge freedom to experiment with ideas. No matter what it is, there will be an audience out there of people that both hate and love whatever you do. It’s a constant throwing of roses and rocks. So you might as well just do something that YOU love and makes you happy. The web is a platform we humans have created to do just that. I just love that doing videos on the web gives a kid in his basement the same chance as it gives HBO or NBC. It’s a fair playing ground where people decide. I like that.

I don’t know that the premise of this supercut by Slacktory of Liam Neeson “always getting the last word” is completely accurate. After all, in one of his most famous scenes, the one from Taken where he does the “I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you” thing, the kidnapper says, after a pause, “Good luck.” Although I suppose that by ultimately killing that guy, he DOES get the last word, just not right away. Anyway, last word or not, he always gets the good, forceful, kick-ass lines, the kind David Caruso can only wish he got, and he gets to do a lot of walk-offs. A bunch of them are packed into this.

]]>Robert Kirkman and Liam Brenner Talk “The Walking Dead Escape”http://nerdist.com/robert-kirkman-and-liam-brenner-talk-the-walking-dead-escape/
http://nerdist.com/robert-kirkman-and-liam-brenner-talk-the-walking-dead-escape/#commentsThu, 21 Jun 2012 14:00:18 +0000http://www.nerdist.com/?p=48383Culturally speaking, you can’t escape from The Walking Dead, as the TV show and comics continue to spawn a merchandising empire that includes the likes of plush toys and board games. But in real life, could you escape from the actual walking dead? Come San Diego Comic-Con International, you get to find out in The Walking Dead Escape, a fully immersive experience taking place at Petco Park, in which you can participate as either a survivor, walker or spectator. To find out the details, we talked to Liam Brenner, architect of The Walking Dead Escape, about his role in creating the attraction (we also got in two bonus questions with Robert Kirkman!). (To win free tickets, enter our contest and keep an eye on @TWDEscape on Twitter)

Nerdist: How did the The Walking Dead Escape event come to be?

Liam Brenner: I have been working on award winning mass-participatory events for almost ten years now. I realized I had a passion for obstacle course races, and I loved the idea of building an “adult playground” where people could have fun and remember what it’s like to be a kid again. I’m also a bit of an apocalypse junkie — when I was 12 years old, I told my mom I wanted to read the The Stand by Stephen King. That did me in. I was hooked. Whether it’s viral, nuclear, biological or — most importantly — zombies, I love anything apocalyptic. So a few years ago I was watching one of our obstacle race events and noted how much it looked like these participants were being chased by zombies in the midst of the apocalypse — running to climb over fences and crawl under structures in the mud. The only things lacking were the actual zombies. So we reached out to the guys at Skybound last year and pitched the idea to them. They happened to be coming out with Issue #100 of The Walking Dead at San Diego Comic-Con International, so they asked us if we could do the event in San Diego in July to coincide and we said yes. And the rest is pretty much history.

N: How will this differ from the standard horror mazes we’re used to at places like Universal and Knott’s?

LB:The Walking Dead Escape is an actual obstacle course and though it’s less of a race and more of an experience, it is more physical than walking through a maze. Survivors will be navigating large scale obstacles to escape the Walkers. The Walkers are scattered throughout the course in plain view — they aren’t going to jump out and say “boo” like the ghosts and shape-shifting aliens you might find in some mazes or haunted houses. It’s an entirely different physical and interactive experience.

N: Are you prepared in case someone sick with Mad Cow Disease and high on “Bath Salts” crashes the event?

LB: Our police details have been told to channel Rick Grimes in preparation for the event. I’m pretty confident they will know what to do.

N: How true to the Walking Dead experience will this event be? Do you have to sign a waiver in case of loss of limb?

LB: Though we don’t expect any limbs to be lost a la Merle, participants can expect to really feel like they are a part of a new storyline within The Walking Dead. We couldn’t be more excited to have Greg Nicotero and the KNB EFX team handling the zombie transformations. Greg was really the only logical choice for us, and the addition of actual Walking Dead zombies is a finishing touch that just puts this event over the top.

N: Would you participate as a survivor or a zombie? Why?

LB: I’m a runner with a couple of Marathons under my belt, so I’d probably participate as a Survivor. Though it would be cool to get made up into something as grotesque as one of Nicotero’s Walkers.

N: While Petco Park is convenient to Comic-Con, did you have any desire to potentially do this at a former prison site or in a hospital like Capcom is doing in Japan for Resident Evil 6?

LB: The theme of this specific event is to immerse participants in a story line of The Walking Dead that hasn’t yet been explored. When Rick wakes up from his coma, everything is already destroyed and the apocalypse has already begun. We’re trying to explore what may have happened in those early days while he was down for the count. We chose to hold the course at a major league stadium, as it probably would be an evacuation point in the event of a real Zombie Apocalypse.

N: Zombie walks are all the rage; do you think people will be able to return to a simple shamble after this experience?

LB: If you’re assuming they will survive The Walking Dead Escape…. then sure. They can do the zombie shuffle all they want. But I think this is the Zombie Apocalypse event to end all Zombie Apocalypse events… The Zombie Apocalypse Apocalypse, if you will.

N: If this goes well, can we expect a Battle Pope immersion event set in the Vatican? C’mon, please?

LB: We’ll be looking for the white smoke…

N: How are we going to be able to tell if the zombie apocalypse actually breaks out during The Walking Dead Escape?

Robert Kirkman: Real zombies won’t look as good as the ones done by Nicotero’s KNB effects team. That’ll be a dead giveaway… pun not intended.

N: What are the challenges of storytelling, such as it is, in an immersion experience like this?

RK: Bringing the world of The Walking Dead to life in a way that is fully immersable seems like an insurmountable challenge but Ruckus Sports have really pulled out all the stops to make this an unprecedented experience that people are really going to go wild for.